1246 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



As soon as we received the order to re- 

 move the bees w^e requested a stay of pro- 

 ceedings, which was granted, and in the 

 mean time we called on Mr. Loft. He was 

 obdurate. He would listen to no suggestions 

 to the effect that we would screen the win- 

 dows at our own cost, and would guarantee 

 he would have no further trouble from our 

 bees, nor any other bees, in fact. In vain 

 we protested that the bees were a necessary 

 part of our business. When we told him we 

 would screen the windows he said it could 

 not be done short of a thousand dollars; but 

 we estimated it would not be over a hundred. 

 It did not make any difference. We had to 

 get the bees off that roof instanter. He kept 

 at the Board of Health, and we in the mean 

 time kept getting a stay of proceedings. We 

 finally agreed to remove them within a 

 week. In the mean time Mr. Loft insisted 

 that the Board of Health demand the imme- 

 diate removal of the bees. This it finally 

 did. and the bees were removed. 



Mr. Loft's candy-building is not shown in 

 the accompanying illustration. If the pic- 

 ture could show it, it would be seen at the 

 upper left-hand corner overlooking our roof; 

 and right here was where the trouble was. 

 So long as our bees were in sight they were 

 blamed for all the alleged annoyance. As a 

 matter of fact there were other bees almost 

 as near, and they probably were just as 

 much in evidence as were ours. If Mr. Loft 

 were to insist that the Board of Health or- 

 der all the bees out of New York, including 

 those in the parks belonging to the city, he 



would run up against a proposition. Instead 

 of getting a few bees after his girls he 

 would have all the bee-keepers in the city 

 buzzing after him in particular. The Na- 

 tional Bee-keepers' Association, as well as 

 the Honey-producers' League, and the New 

 York State Association of Bee-keepers' So- 

 cieties, would probably take a hand in the 

 matter. 



We may make a test case of this next 

 summer, as there are other bee-keepers who 

 have certain interests in this matter. At 

 the present time we have not decided just 

 what course we shall pursue. We know 

 this, that Mr. F. H. Farmer, of Boston, who 

 is a candy-man, and candy is his principal 

 business, keeps some 25 or 30 colonies right 

 in front of his windows; but they are screen- 

 ed. There are other candy-makers in the 

 city, but they have never entered any com- 

 plaint regarding the Farmer bees. There 

 have been bees in the city of New York for 

 the last fifteen years, on several of the roofs; 

 but there has never been any complaint 

 lodged against them, to our knowledge. In 

 Philadelphia, on the roof of its office, the A. 

 I. Root Co. has been keeping bees for sev- 

 eral years, and there are candy-factories 

 and stores all round. Yet there has been no 

 complaint. 



Mr. Weber, of Cincinnati, as well as Mr. 

 Muth, of that city, for many years prior to 

 his time, kept bees on his roof, and has 

 been keeping them there for many years. 



If Mr. Loft had been disposed to be at all 

 reasonable, we would have seen to it that he 



PRATT BABY NUCLEUS OPENED UP FOR EXAMINATION. 



